Steamboat Springs  There's a spirit that came on stage with the hair bands of the 1980s, left with them and has never returned. That is why we must revisit it again and again through heavy metal tribute bands.

When Winter Park-based band Huge in Germany takes the stage tonight, they will wear tight pants, big hair and bandannas and carry with them the rock 'n' roll party attitude of bands such as Poison, Warrant and KISS.

"Back then, it was all about having a good time," said bassist Andy Irvine, aka Thor Svenhammer. "It was about not being real, escaping your reality into the rock 'n' roll fantasy.

"These days, everything is so serious and music is so causey, but '80s metal was about getting girls, being young and rockin' out with your friends."

All Huge in Germany has to do to bring back that '80s fantasy is to play songs such as "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC, "Cherry Pie" by Warrant or "We're Not Gonna' Take It" by Twisted Sister. The crowds go crazy for those songs, Irvine said.

Their set list includes songs by Judas Priest, Metallica, RATT, KISS, Black Sabbath and Quiet Riot.

Now in their 30s, it's the music that Huge in Germany listened to as teenagers.

"There's this whole rebellious side to that music," Irvine said. "In junior high or high school, you feel completely oppressed by being in high school and by your parents, and that song 'We're Not Gonna' Take It' says it all."

Huge in Germany tries to replicate the heavy metal shows of their youth as best they can with lights and high energy.

"A Huge in Germany show is kind of like Disneyland, only we charge less to get in, and instead of cotton candy, there's beer," Irvine said.

Tonight's show will be Huge in Germany's first time on stage in Steamboat, but local music audiences will recognize Irvine from his time with bands such as Carlos Washington and the Amazing Giant People Ensemble and the jazz fusion project Beanstalk.